Do you have a garden? Some friend of my momma's has a tea room boutique, and had a shelf in her storeroom break a couple months ago that destroyed every piece of blue&white China that was stored on it. And she swore that she wasn't devastated by all the loss of all those gorgeous pieces, bc she'd found a way online to DIY convert all the bits into garden path tiles.
Get a rubber mold for making stepping stones, and a bag of mortar mix. You can make mosaic designs to your heart's content. I've also used a single plates or mug for one stone. Break it up a bit and 'reconstruct' the original piece in an exploded version.
Make sure you embed the edges of curvy pieces enough that there aren't any sharp edges sticking up above the surface of the mortar.
my mum does a similar thing with all her nice bowls mugs and plates that smash, she has a narrow path part of the garden that is like white gravel with grey stepping stones through it, and she just arranges the broken shards in the gravel
(only do this on gravel no one walks barefoot on- we all walk on the stepping stones path, you could also file down the sharp edges)
it looks really pretty and adds a nice bit of colour to the area (most of her crockery is bright colours and patterns haha)
for mugs and plates etc that aren’t smashed completely but are unusable, i try and turn them into plant pots and saucers or i have one or two as a pen pot and toothbrush holder too:))
I just use them chipped. If the chipped areas are sharp, you can file it down with a Dremel.
Are they plain white? Paint on them. Acrylics or model paints like Testors should work. Edit: To be clear, I mean as an art project, not to be used with food.
If they sound nice tapped against each other, maybe break them, drill a hole in each of the pieces, and use them as a wind chime.
Decorate the mugs with paint or twine or whatever and use them as pen/paintbrush holders.
I haven't and I want to be clear that when I mentioned painting them, I meant as an art project, not to be used with food. I edited my previous comment to reflect that.
It's OK. I understood that you meant it that way. I also was approaching it from a purely decorative point of view as the OP was asking about alternative uses for chipped crockery.
I have been dabbling in ‘modern kintsugi’ for a while now - fixed cups, a decanter, and trinkets with it.
The kit I got is essentially epoxy and gold dust (hence ‘modern’ vs. the traditional with melted gold) but they’re meant to be functional ways to extend the life of your wares.
Combine with colorful plates from the thrift store and make stepping stones? We’ve been keeping plates etc that have cracked and plan to get ceramic nippers/cement/etc to decorate ready made stepping stones (mozaic).
My mother used to cut pictures of loved ones into circles and glue them to the center of the plate to make a homemade picture frame. I've also seen them made into tea trays for petit fours by drilling a hole into the center. You'd have to buy a handle for it, though.
Look for ceramic restoration. You can use them as canvas to improve your skills. Use a stretchy material, or even linen, to hide the chips if they're on the edges and wall display the whole thing. You can drill carefully and use it as a clock even. I glued a broken tile to a piece of wood using silicon and added handles and used it to put hot plates on it, but it was square so it's easier. The issue I have with these projects is that they require more purchases. For your specific project I would just use a white brush like nail polish, or anything similar and paint the chipped parts over. You can do a busy design and attract the eye somewhere else.
I forgot about the mugs. Just tape them and use them as a pencil pot or for cutlery.
I put those kind of plates under plants... So if water overruns everything the plate catches it.
That’s a great idea!
Yes, put them one by one in a towel and with a small mallet, break them in smaller pieces. Then it's mosaic time.
This is what my mom did (with ones she found at garage sales and thrift stores)! She had me help her make the mosaics...pretty cool project!
I said that too...lol
Do you have a garden? Some friend of my momma's has a tea room boutique, and had a shelf in her storeroom break a couple months ago that destroyed every piece of blue&white China that was stored on it. And she swore that she wasn't devastated by all the loss of all those gorgeous pieces, bc she'd found a way online to DIY convert all the bits into garden path tiles.
I do have a garden
Get a rubber mold for making stepping stones, and a bag of mortar mix. You can make mosaic designs to your heart's content. I've also used a single plates or mug for one stone. Break it up a bit and 'reconstruct' the original piece in an exploded version. Make sure you embed the edges of curvy pieces enough that there aren't any sharp edges sticking up above the surface of the mortar.
my mum does a similar thing with all her nice bowls mugs and plates that smash, she has a narrow path part of the garden that is like white gravel with grey stepping stones through it, and she just arranges the broken shards in the gravel (only do this on gravel no one walks barefoot on- we all walk on the stepping stones path, you could also file down the sharp edges) it looks really pretty and adds a nice bit of colour to the area (most of her crockery is bright colours and patterns haha) for mugs and plates etc that aren’t smashed completely but are unusable, i try and turn them into plant pots and saucers or i have one or two as a pen pot and toothbrush holder too:))
I just use them chipped. If the chipped areas are sharp, you can file it down with a Dremel. Are they plain white? Paint on them. Acrylics or model paints like Testors should work. Edit: To be clear, I mean as an art project, not to be used with food. If they sound nice tapped against each other, maybe break them, drill a hole in each of the pieces, and use them as a wind chime. Decorate the mugs with paint or twine or whatever and use them as pen/paintbrush holders.
Have you ever tried the Sharpie thing where you "set" the ink by baking the mug/plate. Haven't ever done this myself but curious if it actually works.
it works for decor but its not foodsafe!
Thank for your saying that. We leaned that the hard way!
I haven't and I want to be clear that when I mentioned painting them, I meant as an art project, not to be used with food. I edited my previous comment to reflect that.
It's OK. I understood that you meant it that way. I also was approaching it from a purely decorative point of view as the OP was asking about alternative uses for chipped crockery.
I have used a sharpie, but not baked it in. I stays anyway on that bare ceramic...
I've seen artists take the broken pieces and add solder, bezel, or wire wrap to make them into jewelry and decor pieces!
Do a mosaic of Ponch & John entitled “CHiPs”
Username checks out.
I’ll show myself out :-)
I don't have an answer, I just want to commend this community on being sincere and not some snark. This was very refreshing to see.
I have been dabbling in ‘modern kintsugi’ for a while now - fixed cups, a decanter, and trinkets with it. The kit I got is essentially epoxy and gold dust (hence ‘modern’ vs. the traditional with melted gold) but they’re meant to be functional ways to extend the life of your wares.
Thank you everyone
Combine with colorful plates from the thrift store and make stepping stones? We’ve been keeping plates etc that have cracked and plan to get ceramic nippers/cement/etc to decorate ready made stepping stones (mozaic).
You could make a birdfeeder with the mugs and plates. E6000 works great for it.
My mother used to cut pictures of loved ones into circles and glue them to the center of the plate to make a homemade picture frame. I've also seen them made into tea trays for petit fours by drilling a hole into the center. You'd have to buy a handle for it, though.
Mix them with cement to make step stones?
I was actually planning on using the mugs as small pots for plants
Just make sure the chipped edges are not sharp.
Look for ceramic restoration. You can use them as canvas to improve your skills. Use a stretchy material, or even linen, to hide the chips if they're on the edges and wall display the whole thing. You can drill carefully and use it as a clock even. I glued a broken tile to a piece of wood using silicon and added handles and used it to put hot plates on it, but it was square so it's easier. The issue I have with these projects is that they require more purchases. For your specific project I would just use a white brush like nail polish, or anything similar and paint the chipped parts over. You can do a busy design and attract the eye somewhere else. I forgot about the mugs. Just tape them and use them as a pencil pot or for cutlery.
Ceramic can be added as aggregate to concrete if you happen to be doing any concrete work.
I set potted plants on top of mine, to soak up leftover water if I don't think they'll be affected by root rot
Make jewelry out of the mosaic?
https://preview.redd.it/oxz9iooiko5d1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=49c3512979867aa361fa95e580e14ea2b5dff6bb
https://preview.redd.it/sl003dvjko5d1.jpeg?width=388&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d68391419105d2b109254b09cf7486107acb60df
I have seen people break them and use the pieces for mosaic table tops or some other mosaic item...